The ever-brilliant Ellie Gibson penned this meandering article on her expectations for Sonic Mania, interspersed with parenting metaphors, and ex-boyfriends whose reading material of choice is the FHM Top 100 Women pullout. “Sometimes I worry I’ve read so many video game press releases I’ve started to talk like them. A few years ago, for example, I remember saying to my husband, “I think we should leverage the success of our existing legacy brand to extend the franchise in an exciting new direction.” It was only when he saw I was wearing a new nightie he realised I wanted another baby.”

An interview with John Ritman, creator of the ever-wonderful 8-bit classic Head Over Heels. I loved the Amiga version of this game back in the 1990s, and it’s fascinating to find out how this bizarre game came into being – Prince Charles Daleks and all. I never finished it back in the day, but I’ve been inspired to return…

Rami Ismail of Vlambeer (creators of brilliant games such as Luftrausers and Ridiculous Fishing) gives a fascinating look behind the scenes of releasing a game on consoles – and gives some inkling of how a game like No Man’s Sky can end up with an enormous day-one patch thanks to outdated publishing processes. The checklist of things that a game has to have to pass the certification process is illuminating, including a few things that I’d never have thought of: “Some of these make a lot of sense (don’t crash), and some of these are reasonable (if you leave the main menu open for 24 hours, is the game still smooth?), and some of them sound obscene (if you rapidly plug and unplug the controller, does the game know what to do?).”